Bleeding Love
by HeirToTheShadows
Summary: The story of Levy and Gajeel. Song fic based off Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis. Rated T for Gajeel's potty mouth.


**A/N- The idea for this story popped into my head one day while watching a movie. I did this fic in a different style then I normally do. Typically, the stories I write are about two people, and then their interactions, but this story is all about Levy's thoughts and feelings. Read and review. I hope you like the story.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Fairy Tail, or any of its characters. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. If I owned it, Levy and Gajeel would be an official couple, but so would Lucy and Loke. ^_^**

**I don't own the song that this fic is based off of. It's by Leona Lewis.**

***Closed off from love, I didn't need the pain. Once or twice was enough, and it was all in vain. Time starts to pass, before you know it, you're frozen.*  
**  
Levy was a smart girl. So how did she get herself into these situations? Why did she lead then on? She tried desperately not to lead Jet and Droy on, but they were so... oblivious! Other then Lu-chan, they were her best friends. She tried so hard to make them understand that that's all they were, and all they ever could be.

It wasn't that she didn't know anything about dating, which is what they thought, or that she had unrealistic ideas of love, which is what Lu-chan thought. It was that she couldn't love. She tried. God, had she tried. But no one could melt the ice, and break down the walls that she had built to protect her heart. The heart that had been violently crushed before.

She wanted someone that she was able to love. She wanted someone to melt the ice. But no one could.  
**  
*But something happened for the very first time with you. My heart melted to the ground, found something true. And everyone's looking around thinking I'm going crazy.***

She watched him enter the guild hall in shock, just like almost every other member. His dark black hair swayed around his lean waist, and his red eyes stayed glued to the ground. He sat down at a table in the corner, and the talk started up again, Levy staring silently.

"What is he doing here?"

"Why is he a part of us?"

"I heard the master brought him in."

"Why would anyone want a jerk like that in the guild?" Jet whispered angrily.

"I hate him! How could the master let him in after what he did to us? After what he did to Levy?" Droy moaned back.

Levy continued to stare at Gajeel, her enemy, her nakama. She didn't know what to think about him. She hated him for what he had done to her guild mates, yet she pitied him for the life he had lived.

Blood red eyes met hazel, and even while she felt fear, knowing that if he wanted to, he could nail her to a tree again, knowing she still wasn't strong enough to stop him, she felt her heart start to pound in her chest, heard it pounding in her ears.

~What is this? Is this what everyone is always talking about? Is this love? What is this fluttery feeling?~

Day after day, Levy watched Gajeel in silence. She watched him get taunted, watched him only be accepted during fights. And every time, every day, felt the ice melt a little bit, felt the walls weaken.

She watched Jet and Droy attack him for what he had done, and tried to stop them. She watched him stand there and take it. And as she watched, she felt her walls start to crumble.

She watched Laxus join the fight, watched as he still didn't fight back, realizing he was trying to earn their acceptance, earn their forgiveness.

She heard the sound of Laxus's lightning, saw it coming towards her, and knew that there was no way to dodge. She tensed for the hit, heard the lightning connect, smelled the burning hair and flesh, but felt no pain. Peeking, she slowly opened one of her eyes to see a mass of black hair. Gajeel had blocked the lightning. He had taken the hit for her. And she felt the last of her walls crumble down.

The next day, she watched him once again enter the guild. Like always, everyone went silent as he walked to his seat in the corner. As always, once he sat down talk started up again.

Levy stared at him, gathering her courage. Quickly, before she lost her nerve, she stood and walked toward him, weaving her way through her nakama.

"What's she doing?"

"Why is she walking toward him?"

"What's going on?"

Levy stopped a few feet away from his table, and hesitantly, quietly spoke to his impassive face, and closed eyes, "Gajeel? Gajeel? Are you awake?"

One red eye opened, looked her over once, and glared at her, "What do you want, Shorty?"

"I- I just want you to know that I forgive you. I forgive you for hurting me, my team, and my guild. And... Welcome to Fairy Tail," she said. Gajeel's eyes widened, and he looked at her in shock. With a small smile, she crossed the guild back to the table that Jet and Droy were at.

"What!"

"What just happened?"

"Did she really just forgive him?"

Carefully, Levy sat back down in her seat, ignoring the stares from everyone else in the guild. The only stare that mattered, the only stare to make her heart pound, was still on her.

"Levy! Do you really forgive him?" Jet and Droy asked at the same time, each clutching one of her hands.

"Yes. Yes, I do," Levy said. Every stare in the room, except one, told her what her nakama thought. They thought she was crazy.

Except Gajeel. She had no idea what he was thinking. She went back to watching him.

She saw a small, barely there, smile form on his face, and his lips form one word.

"Gihee."

***But I don't care what they say; I'm in love with you. They try to pull me away, but they don't know the truth. My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing.***

She kept watching. She watched as everyone except Jet and Droy forgave him. No one else came straight out and told him, but slowly, people started talking to him even when there weren't fights. The last to forgive him was Natsu, who did it in his typical Natsu style.

"Hey, metalbrain! Why are you looking at me!"

"What the fuck are you talking about, idiot! I'm not fucking looking at you!"

"Yeah you are, metalbrain!"

"You want to fucking go, flame boy!"

And the daily fight started. They rolled, and punched, people slowly getting dragged in.

"That's it! If Natsu's going to fight him, then so am I!"

"Grey, your clothes..."

"Fighting is Manly!"

"Hey! You just knocked over my boyfriend! How am I going to drink him now!"

"Juvia will protect her beloved Gray-sama!"

Day by day, his acceptance grew, and slowly, slowly, slowly, the table she sat at was closer to his.

Then Laxus started the Battle of Fairy Tail. Levy was onstage, trying to win the Miss Fairy Tail contest, not only for the prize, but because maybe, just maybe, it would catch his attention. She walked backstage, wondering why it was so quiet back here.

"Levy? How have you been?" a feminine voice came from the shadows.

"Evergreen! You're back!" Levy cheered, turning to look at her. She stared straight into Evergreen's uncovered eyes, and felt her body start to turn to stone.

~Gajeel. Sav- ~ she thought just before her head turned to stone.

~ -e me!~ she finished with a gasp. In confusion, she looked around. The guild hall was empty of everyone except the girls that participated in the contest, Natsu, Happy, and Gajeel.

The girls were quickly caught up on what was happening, and ran off. Natsu started banging his head against the rune wall. And Gajeel looked ready to do the same. She stopped Natsu, and quickly explained that she could try and undo the runes. The three of them raced down the stairs, and Levy gathered her things. Thinking out loud, she tried to decipher the coding.

"I don't even get what you're saying. You're incredible, bookworm."

Levy felt her cheeks go red, and her heart start to slam. Quickly, she finished deciphering the runes, and let them out.

They stopped Laxus, and the guild was safe. Slowly, her watching turned to talking. At first only occasionally, but as it happened more and more, the deeper her feelings for him grew, and the more she wanted to talk to him. And slowly, he started to talk to her. Just a little bit.

"Levy, why do you talk to that jerk?" asked Jet.

"We don't like it," agreed Droy.

They hugged her, and asked at the same time, "Please, Levy. Please don't spend time with him anymore."

"He's my friend, you guys. I'm going to spend time with him."

Her feelings grew day by day, and every day she wished she was stronger. She wished she was strong enough to tell him how she felt.

***You cut me open and I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love. I keep bleeding, I keep keep bleeding love. Keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love. You cut me open.*  
**  
Every moment she spent with him was sweet torture. Her heart would pound against her chest; she'd hear thunder in her ears, and feel the pink stain upon her cheeks. She loved the time she spent with him, but hated it, hated her fear to tell him how she felt.

Every moment she spent away from him hurt her. Her stomach was in knots, and she missed him. He was her safe harbor, and the feeling she got in his presence was addictive. She never wanted him to find out how she felt, because then this feeling might change. But him not knowing... it hurt. She wanted him to figure it out. But she knew he wouldn't. She knew he never would.

***Trying hard not to hear, but they talk so loud. Their piercing sounds fill my ears; try to fill me with doubt. Yet I know that the goal is to keep me from falling.*  
**  
Over time, the guild figured out how she felt for Gajeel, except for him and Natsu.

"Levy, do you really like Gajeel?"

"How can someone as sweet as you like someone as twisted as him?"

"Why him?"

"What's so special about him?"

She said the same thing every time someone asked her why she liked Gajeel.

"I'm not sure. There's just something about him, and it draws me in. It's this irresistible... pull to be around him. I can't stop myself any better then Cana can stop drinking."

And they always responded the same way.

"But Levy, he's all wrong for you."

She knew that her guild mates were just trying to help her. They just wanted to stop her from getting hurt. They knew, just like she knew, that Gajeel would not, could not, ever return her feelings. If he did, he wouldn't be Gajeel. Gajeel, the man she loved, the man she wanted to love her, couldn't love her. It would change who he was.

So every day she talked to him when she could, watched him when she couldn't, and missed him when he wasn't there.

She knew that they were trying to protect her heart. The heart that they thought she couldn't protect. They were just trying to make sure she didn't fall for him. What they didn't know was that it was too late. She was head-over-heals, heart poundingly in love with him.

***But nothing's better then the rush that comes with your embrace. And in this world of loneliness I see your face. And everyone around me thinks that I'm going crazy, maybe, maybe.*  
**  
So every day she spent more and more time with him, until not only did she need it, but he looked forward to it. He, Gajeel, enjoyed her company. He laughed more around her then he did around any of their nakama. And the only times she saw him smile was when she was there, with him.

The feeling, the knowledge, that she was the only one in the guild that he did more then tolerate, that he liked, was intoxicating. The fact that she, and she alone, could make him laugh like that, could make him smile, drove her crazy with happiness.

One day, she was sitting in the guild hall, talking to Gajeel while it rained, when... something... happened. All of a sudden, she couldn't feel anything, couldn't see anything, and the desire to just not think, to just accept this filled her. But she couldn't. Because she couldn't see Gajeel like this. And she missed him so badly it hurt. She missed his voice, she missed his laugh, his smile, his eyes, the feelings she had around him, and the sense that maybe, just maybe, he was starting to love her.

Slowly, as if over the course of days, she felt her will to stay herself slowly be sapped. But every time she was ready to give up, to give in, his face would fill her mind. She would picture his eyes, his nose, his mouth, typically so angry and unforgiving, that would smile so happily around her.

Suddenly, his voice filled her world, along with the clashes and bangs that signified a fight.

"And then I'll take you home and make you my cat!"

She heard the words, but didn't understand the meaning. And she gave in, knowing Gajeel was here to save her, once again.

When she opened her eyes, she was sitting at Gajeel's table, as if nothing had happened. No one in the guild seemed to notice anything wrong. But she did. She knew that Gajeel was gone. He wasn't here, where they had been having a conversation just moments ago. She looked around for him, and saw that not only was he gone, but she couldn't find Lu-chan.

~God help me, if she snuck off with him, I'll kill her! She knows how I feel about him!~ she thought, still searching. That was when she noticed that Erza, Gray, Natsu, Wendy, Carla, and Happy were also missing.

~Where are they?~

All of the missing guild mates, along with Elfman, and Mirajane entered the guild then, huddled around someone. Once everyone saw who it was, there was a simultaneous charge for the door by everyone except her.

"Lisanna!"

She walked over at a more leisurely pace, with eyes only for Gajeel, checking to see if he was hurt. He seemed exhausted, but otherwise fine. Quickly, they explained to everyone what had happened. They told them about Edolas, that they were turned into a lacrima, about saving them. She then understood what the urge to stop thinking has been. Gajeel introduced his new cat to everyone, and over the next few days, everyone saw his softer side, along with his smile. The smile she loved, the smile she thought of as _theirs_. And even though she knew it was crazy, she became jealous of Pantherlily. Every hug, every kiss, every cuddle, every smile, she grew more and more envious. And everyone but Gajeel knew.

"Poor Levy."

"She's crazy, though, being jealous of a cat."

"She's crazy for liking Gajeel."

***But I don't care what they say; I'm in love with you. They try to pull me away, but they don't know the truth. My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing.*  
**  
Over time, Pantherlily and she became friends. Pantherlily, of course, quickly figured out how she felt for Gajeel. Lily encouraged her to tell Gajeel how she felt, but she told him every time that she couldn't. Gajeel was Gajeel. And Gajeel would never love her, soft, cute, weak, little Levy. She would never be big enough to catch his notice, never be strong enough to beat him. She could capture his attention, but never hold it.

Other then Lily, everyone encouraged her to move on. They gave her many reasons, and she knew she couldn't even hope to have Gajeel, but her heart refused to move on. She couldn't fall for anyone else. Everyone she even tried to consider, she compared to Gajeel. And she always found the other person wanting.

They didn't know the extent of her feelings for Gajeel. And to be honest, until she tried to move on, neither had she.

Despite all the reasons that he was wrong for her, despite all the reasons that she should move on, there were twice as many reasons he was perfect for her, twice as many reasons to stay.

And she knew, she would never love anyone else the way she loved Gajeel. Not even if she lived a thousand years. Not if she lived a billion years.

***You cut me open and I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love. I keep bleeding, I keep keep bleeding love. Keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love. Oh, you cut me open.*  
**  
She kept watching, kept loving, kept living, kept wishing, kept wanting. Her life, her universe, revolved around Gajeel. She needed him to be a part of her life, even if the part he filled wasn't the one she wanted. She watched his interactions with the other guild mates, watched him make friends (sort of). She watched the way he interacted with Lily, the way he acted around Jet and Droy.

She saw that he had a secret love for cute things, like Lily, as long as they tried to be strong. Like the first time there was a thunderstorm near the guild. Lily shook, and shook, but even frightened to his core of the thunder, he tried his best to act strong. And Gajeel, with an obliging smile, said goodbye to her, and took Lily home to take care of him.

She also saw that, for some unknown reason, he really didn't like Jet or Droy. Most of the time, it seemed like he could stand them. But when she was around, and they followed her, or when they tried to get her to walk away from him, he got angry. He seemed like he wanted nothing more then to kill them. When anyone else did the same things, sure, he was a little annoyed, but he was fine with it.

~Maybe it's... jealousy?~

And for the first time, she dared to hope for something more.

***And it's draining all of me. Oh, they find it hard to believe, but I'll be wearing these scars for everyone to see.*  
**  
She waited. And waited. And waited. And kept waiting. Waiting for a hint, a clue as to what his feelings were. And she waited. And as she waited, she slowly sank into the waiting arms of depression.

She realized that she had imagined that he could ever love her. She realized that he never would. She realized that she needed to move on. She realized that Lily was wrong, and everyone else was right. She realized that it has been stupid to think that someone as strong, and beautiful, and wonderful, and powerful as Gajeel could ever love someone as weak, as small, as powerless as her.

She stopped talking to him, stopped watching him, and slowly moved her table away from his. She went to the waiting arms of her friends in an attempt to forget him. Team Shadow Gear took job after job, never staying long in Magnolia.

And she realized that she would never get over him, that she would always love him, no matter how much it hurt.

All of her friends understood why she had stopped talking to Gajeel, why she had moved her table, went she took so many jobs. All except Gajeel.

But none of them understood why she gave up, why she started talking to him again, why the jobs stopped. None except Lily, and, partially, Gajeel.

***I don't care what they say; I'm in love with you. They try to pull me away, but they don't know the truth. My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing.*  
**  
They fought her. All except Pantherlily, fought to keep her from running right back to the man she had just tried to walk away from. And she didn't care.

She didn't care that he was all wrong for her. She didn't care that they were fighting her. She didn't care that with her headlong rush back to him, they were all becoming worried that she might actually be crazy. She didn't care that Gajeel may never return her feelings. All she cared about was the fact that she always felt the best in his presence, and that anywhere else, she was depressed and lonely, no matter how many people were around. She was only happy with him.

She would never love another. And she didn't care.

***You cut me open, and I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love. I keep bleeding, I keep keep bleeding love. Keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love.***

She watched, and talked, and waited. She had made the decision. She would tell Gajeel that she loved him. She would tell him how she felt. And she would hope. She would hope he loved her too.

She waited for her perfect moment. And one day she found it. Pantherlily was talking to Mirajane, and the rest of their nakama were in a fight ranging all over the guild hall.

"Gajeel?"

"What do you want, bookwo- Hey, watch it, you fucking idiots! Sorry, what did you want?"

"I-I'm... I... I..."

"Fucking spit it out, bookworm!"

"I love you, Gajeel..." she whispered, staring at her hands.

Gajeel stared at Levy, his face the mask that it started as, that she hadn't seen since she forgave him. She sat there excruciating moment after excruciating moment.

"Please say something."

"What the fuck do you mean you're in love with me?"

"I mean I love you, Gajeel. I have for a long time. I-I'm sorry I told you. I'll just g-g-go." she whispered in a tortured voice. Quickly, she bolted out of her seat, and turned to go to the door.

A hot hand like a vise clamped down on her wrist, twirling her around, and pulling her back toward Gajeel all at the same time. Heart pounding, she raised her face to look at him just as her chest hit his. His other hand slowly cradled her face and gently pulled it towards his. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, her lips moved toward his. Finally, finally, their lips met. His lips were soft, much softer then she thought they would be. The kiss quickly went from soft and questioning to hot and uncontrollable. His hand fisted in her short hair, and the other snaked around her waist, pulling her as close as he could. Her arms went around his neck, and her hands fisted in the hair at the nape of his neck. His tongue stroked her lower lip, begging for entrance that it was quickly given. When they had to breathe, Gajeel pulled away.

"You're not going anywhere. I don't think that you'll be going anywhere ever again."

Levy quickly pulled back in for another kiss. Their tongues met and fought, and she quickly surrendered. Gajeel's tongue explored her mouth like it was a feast, and he was a starving man. Slowly, a rhythmic pounding that wasn't her heart, and wasn't Gajeel's heart entered her hearing. Pulling away, they both looked around. The entire guild was clapping and cheering. Levy felt her face go red.

***You cut me open, and I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love. I keep bleeding, I keep keep bleeding love. Keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love.*  
**  
Her and Gajeel were quickly accepted as a couple. People quickly accepted the fact that where one was, you'd find the other. Levy moved out of Fairy Hills, and in with Gajeel. The only people that took convincing where Jet and Droy. Eventually, they accepted that she was the happiest she had ever been. Her confession, and success, inspired many of the other girls. Lisanna confessed to Natsu, who was certainly shocked, and they started dating. Lucy and Loke, while the confession was never seen, it was obvious they were together. Mirajane and Evergreen both confessed their feelings for Freed and Elfman the same way. They each grabbed the man by the collar, pulled him in, and kissed him.

All in all, the guild was better after Gajeel joined.

***Oh, you cut me open, and I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love.***

And Levy knew, not only would she never feel the same way about anyone else the way she felt about Gajeel, but she didn't want to. And the same went for him.


End file.
